Decoder in the Spotlight: Suining Sim of ISF Academy

Suining Sim, a student at the ISF Academy in Hong Kong, has been named News-Decoder’s first “Decoder in the Spotlight” for her outstanding contributions to our global community in September.

Suining, who is in her second-to-last year of high school, participated on camera in our first webinar of 2017-18, which focused on China and its relations with the West and which featured former Reuters Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger along with other students from the ISF Academy and from Chadwick International school in South Korea.

Writing in News-Decoder’s discussion board ahead of the September 27 webinar, Suining noted the “symbiotic” economic relationship between China and the United States, and asked whether Beijing and Washington could avoid the “Thucydides trap”– wherein a rising power comes into conflict with a dominant power, risking war.

“Can they maintain a coexistence, however uneasy or volatile?” she asked while noting that China was competing with other nations for natural resources, including water.

“I’ve long believed that water issues are top of the list for causing future world conflicts. I think we tend to underestimate their importance,” Schlesinger replied.

After the webinar, Suining volunteered feedback on the session, suggesting more interaction during the online events between students — a suggestion we intend to implement.

And she wrote a summary of the session, which we published this week, headlined, “Can China and the U.S. escape the Thucydides Trap?”.

I asked Suining some questions to get to know her better.

Where were you born?I was born in Hong Kong.

What is your nationality? Though I live in Hong Kong, I’m Chinese-American.

What year in school are you? I’m in Grade 11/Junior Year.

What are your favorite subjects? I love English Literature, History and Theater.

Your hobbies?I enjoy horseback riding, baking and writing.

Favorite book or author?I could never pick. It feels like betrayal — I love so many for so many different reasons. Intellectually, at this moment, I adore Small Great Things (Picoult), Americanah (Adichie), Passing (Larsen) and MAUS (Spiegleman). But Harry Potter (Rowling) and Titus Rules (King-Smith) will forever remain near and dear to my heart.

News-Decoder plans to honor a student each month for outstanding contributions to our community.